Facebook - back to the kids? — Facebook - it's so over. That's been the tenor of most of the commentary since Thursday's figures showing a slight dip in Facebook's UK users. The general feeling is that the kids, with their minute attention spans, have already tired of the social networking site …

$10 chip puts Australia on the fast track — A new silicon chip developed in Melbourne is predicted to revolutionise the way household gadgets like televisions, phones and DVD players talk to each other. — The tiny five-millimetre-a-side chip can transmit data through a wireless connection …

Why Google Apps is a Serious Threat to Microsoft Office — This is the perspective of a “skeptical, later early adopter”; the sort of person who Microsoft needs to retain and should have been able to retain easily. I don't spend time on productivity tools that may at some date make me more productive …

Microsoft glitch offers up Vista SP1 early — Brett Zehr was surprised on Thursday when he saw that his Windows Vista PC had a new update ready: Service Pack 1. — The software wasn't supposed to be available until mid-March, however a glitch on Thursday meant that Zehr and some other general users …

Vista SP1 kills and maims security apps, utilities — Check security software before installing — Microsoft has admitted that Windows Vista service pack one (SP1) renders useless a number of well-known third party security products. — Redmond said in a knowledge base article yesterday that due to …

Researchers Find Way to Steal Encrypted Data — SAN FRANCISCO — A group led by a Princeton University computer security researcher has developed a simple method to steal encrypted information stored on computer hard disks. — The technique, which could undermine security software protecting critical data …

Star Trek, Twilight Zone, other classics beamed onto 'Net — Last spring, CBS announced the creation of the Audience Network, which has become the online home for CBS programming. Yesterday, the network gave the site a boost with the announcement that it plans to bring some classic shows there.

ISPs could face piracy sanctions — Internet service providers must take concrete steps to curb illegal downloads or face legal sanctions. — That is one of the proposals expected to be outlined by the government in an attempt to curb internet piracy. — Culture secretary Andy Burnham told …

Microsoft Fishes in Silicon Valley For New Yahoo Board Members — According to a source with knowledge of the situation, as part of the preparation for a possible proxy fight it is preparing to wage against Yahoo, Microsoft has been angling in Silicon Valley for prominent techies to serve on a board it must nominate.

UK Facebook users ‘dropped 5% in January’ — For all the talk of Facebook being the $15-billion dollar social network de jour, it would appear that the heavyweight may be losing its touch, at least in the UK. The BBC quotes Nielsen Online figures for last month, showing Facebook dropping …

Apple Releases iTunes 7.6.1, $0.99 Rental Discounts — Apple released iTunes 7.6.1 today through the Mac OS X Software Update. This maintenance release includes several bug fixes and improves compatibility with Apple TV 2.0. The included description remains the same as the original 7.6 release:

Firefox crosses 500 million download mark — Sometime last night, Firefox downloads crossed the 500 million threshold. — It's an arbitrary but interesting milestone for the open-source Web browser, whose development is overseen by Mozilla but that's also developed and extended by a large number of outside programmers.

EU, U.S. vow crackdown on computer counterfeits — EU and U.S. senior officials on Friday said they would crack down on the counterfeiting of computer components after they seized more than 360,000 fake items in just two weeks in a joint operation at the end of last year.

EU data guardians: search engines must obey our rules — European gov data-privacy supremos have collectively said that search engines operating in their jurisdiction are governed by EU personal-data regs even if headquartered elsewhere. — The Article 29 Working Group …

TUAW Responds: iPhone LoJack — Way back, one of our readers begged for an iPhone LoJack solution. He wanted his iPhone to “call home” regularly in case of loss or, let's be more realistic, theft. Over the past week, I finally had a chance to give this request some time, and I put together findme.

Joost website has a surge of downtime in February — Since February 8, the Joost website has had outages almost on a daily basis. Some short, some up to an hour long. With a full week left of February, the website has already been unavailable for a total of five hours and ten minutes this month.